Kohli loses grip on World No.1 ranking

Aaron Finch regains top spot despite not playing a match for nine months after Indian star's poor showing against South Africa

cricket.com.au
09 October 2015

Virat Kohli has lost his title as the world's best Twenty20 batsman following South Africa's series victory against India.

Australia T20 skipper Aaron Finch, who last played an international T20 match in November 2014, had been overtaken by Kohli earlier this year when the India star featured against Zimbabwe in Harare.

However, a score of 1 in the second T20 against South Africa was enough to see him lose his grip on top spot and slip back below Finch.

Finch, on 854 points, holds a nine-point lead over Kohli on 845.

The two top batsmen will feature in the KFC T20 International Series between Australia and India next year, with the first of three T20 matches to be played on Australia Day in Adelaide.

Finch last played a T20 international in November 2014 // Getty

It would mean 14 months between T20 internationals for Finch, but the Australia skipper would have had plenty of opportunity to fine tune with the Melbourne Renegades in the KFC Big Bash League.

The series against India will also mark the an intense period for Australia's T20 cricketers with a series in South Africa to precede the World T20 tournament in India in March and April.

South Africa's JP Duminy was the big winner from the Proteas 2-0 victory against India, climbing to just outside the top 10 batsmen while, perhaps surprisingly, gun batsman AB De Villiers was able to lift his ranking five spots but remains officially the 34th best batsman in the format.

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir moved back into the top 10 bowler ranking in the only significant change from the series.

South Africa's big wins in Dharamsala and Cuttack helped the side lift to fifth, while India fell two spots to be ranked sixth. Australia remains third, eight points adrift of top-placed Sri Lanka.

Top 10 T20 batsmen

Top 10 T20 bowlers

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Cricket Australia.